Tag Archives: Newcastle Knights

The only bad news for the Knights following their 34-10 win over the Raiders in Tamworth was on the injury front, with Zane Tetevano suffering a suspected broken hand. The battle to replace Jarrod Mullen at five-eighth remains wide open with both Darius Boyd and Kurt Gidley filling the role last night. The captain scored a try with just his second touch of the ball, in his comeback from injury. Wayne Bennett later confirmed Gidley will definitely feature in round one, but he’s yet to decide on who’ll partner Tyrone Roberts in the halves. “We’ll just have a look at some video, go back to training next week, we have a week before we play so we can look at some drills and see how they go.” Read More »

He wasn’t named in the original squad, but there’s every chance Kurt Gidley will see game time when the Knights take on the Raiders in Tamworth tomorrow night. This morning, Gidley trained strongly with his team mates, amid speculation he’ll play at five eighth in place of the injured Jarrod Mullen. With Mullen facing a long layoff, the Knights are hoping to have Gidley back as soon as possible. Read More »

Jarrod Mullen says the Knights are looking to win the Auckland Nines, despite the fact they’ve spent little time preparing for the modified game. Wayne Bennett and his squad fly to New Zealand tomorrow, before taking on the Sharks on Saturday. “I’d like to see a game before we play but we’re opening the whole thing. We’ve done a bit at training, not much, found out the rules today, it’ll be a bit of fun.” Meanwhile, Kurt Gidley is back in full training, and hoping to play a part in the Knights’ second pre-season trial against Canberra in Tamworth on February 22. Read More »

Knights coach Wayne Bennett has selected a side with both youth and experience, for Saturday’s game against the First Nations Goannas. Halfback Tyrone Roberts will captain Newcastle for the first time. Read More »

A Sydney court has heard sacked Newcastle Knights player Russell Packer may withdraw his guilty plea to an assault charge. Packer was jailed for two years earlier this month over an attack outside a Sydney bar. He has appealed and today a new bid for bail, failed. Packer told the court he had pleaded guilty because that was the advice he received from his legal team. Read More »

Former Newcastle Knights player turned club official Ben Rogers is due to face Newcastle Local Court on April 8, in relation to two assault charges. Rogers was excused from court today and his solicitor Alison Nowland said that, from her understanding, there are no prospects of the case being settled. Magistrate Stone attempted to set a hearing date in February, but Ms Nowland explained that Rogers won’t be available until April, as he’ll be overseas. Ms Nowland also told the court four witnesses will be called for the defence during the hearing. Rogers is accused of punching two men at a taxi rank outside Wests at New Lambton last year. He was subsequently charged with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Read More »

The Newcastle Knights have sacked off-season signing, Russell Packer. Last week, the forward was given two years in jail for assault. Yesterday, Knights CEO Matt Gidley had his first chance to meet with him since the sentence, informing him his contract would be terminated. The Knights have confirmed they’re now hunting for a new forward. “We’ll go back into the market, see who’s available as a replacement. It’s difficult because it’s January and most teams have their squads settled, but we’ll start to work now on a replacement.” Read More »

A week after he was sentenced to two years in jail for assault, the Newcastle Knights have officially sacked off-season signing, Russell Packer. “Russell’s termination was never in question, as soon as he was sentenced last Monday there was no doubt his contract had to be terminated, ideally we could’ve done it Tuesday and let our fans know where we stood earlier, but the fact he wasn’t released on bail, couldn’t get access to him until yesterday was the only reason for the delay.” However, the NRL club says it will continue to help Packer’s family. “Apart from advising him that his contract would be terminated I wanted to assure him that while his young family is in Newcastle, we’ll continue to help them out, they haven’t got any family here, a traumatic experience for them.” Packer has appealed the ... Read More »